1. Field
Example embodiments relate to a radiation detector and/or a radiographic apparatus including the same. For example, at least some example embodiments relate to a radiation detector with enhanced quantum efficiency due to use of a nano-waveguide and/or a radiographic apparatus including the radiation detector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Radiation-based medical equipment including radiographic apparatuses have been used and developed. Radiographic apparatuses have rapidly changed from analog to digital. In line with this trend, a radiation detector, one of the core components of a digital radiographic apparatus, has been rapidly improved. Digital radiographic technology is largely divided into two methods: an indirect method in which an X-ray is converted into visible light that is further converted into an electric signal to generate an image, and a direct method in which an X-ray signal is directly converted into an electric signal to generate an image.
Examples of the indirect method are a method of using thallium doped cesium (CsI:TI) as a scintillator in a needle-shaped form (about 5 μm to about 10 μm in diameter) via vapor deposition and a method of using gadolinium oxysulfide (Gd2O2S) powder via sintering and crystallization. An example of the direct method is a method of using amorphous selenium (a-Se) as a photoconductor via vapor deposition.
The indirect method may result in a relatively lower resolution than the direct method. For example, the indirect method may have a resolution of about 100 μm to about 500 μm depending on modality and is widely utilized in general radiography, chest X-ray radiography, fluoroscopy, angiography, computer tomography (CT), etc. The direct method is mainly utilized in mammography in which micro calcification detection with a resolution of about 50 μm to about 75 μm is needed.